Black Santa NotReallyPreview
by MidnightSchemer13
Summary: 12 gifts, wrapped and prepared. 12 victims, unsuspecting and scheduled to die. The holiday countdown begins, with a murder each day. Will Roxas be able to stop the perfect killer? Rated T for possibly disturbing imagery, death, danger, and some pairings.


**_Get ready for a massacre this Christmas... Ho...ho...ho._**

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><p>Roxas Strife and Axel Flurry, two best friends and partners-in-crime-scene-investigation, quickly become involved in a bizarre case of apparently random murders, starting on Christmas day. There is no preamble, no reason for the Christmas killings, and the Hollow Bastion CSI Team must race against time to solve the mystery. Their only clues as to who the murderer is are the gift boxes from the anonymous, mysterious, and dangerous Black Santa, and they only have twelve days to figure out who it is and who's next, if they wish to save everybody.<p>

_There's always a pattern. _Right?

More drama and fright is added to the mix when the Team themselves are targeted by Black Santa, who will stop at nothing to ensure the success of their mission. Family members are equal and fair victims, and a little more blood makes no difference. But when the twin sibling of Detective Roxas is mistakenly kidnapped instead of him, Black Santa decides to get in the holiday and New Year spirit: why not make it a game?

The stakes are high as Detectives Roxas, Axel, Seifer, and Marluxia battle against the unseen and unknown, for the fate of everyone's lives.

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><p><strong>Previews are strictly prohibited by FanFiction dot net, yes, I know. This isn't one. It's a head's-up and "Coming Attraction" published to keep you on your toes for my most ambitious project yet!<strong>

****Rest assured, I'll only update it after the rest of my stories have decent updates (since I keep writing and don't keep updating, which is a bad habit I'm working on), so expect Chapter Two in... March, -ish? ****

_(Oh, and I know it's tagged as Axel/Roxas, but there'll be no yaoi here. Sorry.) _

**And just for the sake of it, why not throw in the first chapter?  
>Enjoy Chapter One: Santa's Coming to Town!<strong>

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><p>It was a full moon that night, with 12 minutes until Christmas. Aqua Brightcrest sat in her armchair by the window, sleepily gazing out the glass panes at the starlit sky, and gently fiddling with the handcrafted Wayfinder her boyfriend had given her for her last birthday. It was as blue as her name, as the sea; made of smooth glass and silver, it cast a cerulean shadow if the light caught it just right. The leather strap that went through the silver ring was tied around her neck, long enough for the Wayfinder to rest beside her heart, and felt comfortably soft on her skin. She sighed. A few stars twinkled in the heavens, winking at her; she imagined that they knew her scheme.<p>

It was eleven minutes until Christmas, and she was excited to give Terra his gift. She had worked hard for it: two tickets to the upcoming concert of his favourite band, Chaos Ripper. The passes were ridiculously expensive and hard to obtain, but Aqua was pleased with herself for cleverly bargaining for them, and couldn't wait to see the smile on Terra's face when she gave them to him. She giggled quietly to herself, but then quickly covered her mouth with her hand, afraid that she might wake her boyfriend up. She glanced at the ceiling for a moment, but, upon hearing no sound of his awakening, relaxed and lowered her hand.

She and her boyfriend had lived together for the past three months, with her moving into his two-story house upon his invitation. They did well together, splitting the rent between them and occupying separate bedrooms, and had even combined their Christmas decorations to create a beautiful, post-card like house, inside and out. The lights were lit, the wreaths were hung, and ribbons decorated the garlands of leaves. Should it snow that Christmas (which was quite unlikely, as they lived in Traverse Town), then it would have looked like the perfect winter wonderland.

Aqua sighed impatiently, hooking a stray strand of her sky-blue hair behind her ear. It was six minutes until Christmas, and six hours until Terra would wake up in the morning. It was a silly tradition, really, but every Christmas Eve since she was very little, the young woman would try to stay up until midnight and wait for Santa to either drop in through the chimney or walk in through the front door, just to see if he was as real as she believed, and not her father in disguise; but somehow, every midnight, she would fall asleep before Santa ever arrived, and when she woke up, there would be presents left underneath the faintly glowing, ornamented, and baubled tree.

_No, not this night_, she thought to herself with a smile, gripping her Wayfinder necklace a bit tighter. _Tonight, I'm going to stay up, and maybe, finally, I'll get to see Santa. _She laughed again, taking care to keep quiet, at her silly thoughts. Getting up from the armchair, she walked over to the Christmas tree and smiled, looking at the ornaments. Each one had a memory tied to it, or a special occasion it signified.

There was a baby blue cradle with her year of birth inscribed on it with gold ink that her father had bought when she was born.

There was a numbered bauble for each year she had lived, with every one of them a different colour (and some painted over to create new hues) and a different number font.

There were tiny, framed photos of special events in her life, such as when Terra first kissed her in front of their friends, or her graduation from high school, or when she had received her first promotion.

But out of them all, her favourite ornament was a larger framed photo, the size of her fist, with her, her father, Terra, and all of her friends posing for a picture on her birthday four years ago. She was wearing the same necklace as she was now, and Terra had his lips pressed against her cheek. Ventus was hugging her and making a peace sign at the camera, and some other friends were making silly faces. Aqua giggled softly. It had been Ventus's camera they were using, and when he had printed it out for her to make the ornament, he had signed the back of it: _Keep smiling. Friends forever. _

Reaching out with a pale hand, she turned the ornament around. On the back were Ventus's words, still scribbled there in the bright green ink he loved to write in. Beside the words was a sketch he had drawn, of Aqua and Terra sharing a paopu fruit. It was a simple doodle, but sweet and cute nonetheless (though Aqua would never call it 'cute' to his face). She looked at it for a while, tracing over the ink with tentative fingers, and thinking of all the times, good and bad, the three of them had shared before life had caught up to them, and the three's schedules conflicted with each other, leaving only rare days for them to hang out.

_Ventus––_

The fire crackling softly in its grate suddenly let out a particularly loud _pop_, startling her. Whirling around, she glanced at the fireplace, its flames innocently flickering behind the iron fence.

_Hmm. That's weird... _But no matter, no matter: fire did that sometimes, playing tricks on you. It was probably just something in the wood, or... Aqua's eyes unconsciously flitted to the grandmother clock on the wall as she attempted to calm herself down (thinking that she was probably a bit jumpy because she was tired and the house was silent), and her surprise melted away, replaced with excitement.

It was two minutes to Christmas, and she didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy. Giggling to herself, Aqua began quietly singing Christmas songs to herself to pass the time, holding her Wayfinder in her hand the whole time (though the slight tug _did _pull on her neck a bit). She could just imagine the look on Terra's face upon his receiving of her present. Humming to herself, she counted down as the clock hands ticked closer and closer to twelve.

_Nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... _

There was a knock upon the door.

Aqua's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Who could it be, knocking on her door this late at night (or so early in the morning, as it was 12:00:06)?

Again, there was a knock. Three quiet hits of a fist's knuckles, tapping the door in a short staccato.

Aqua slowly pushed herself up off of the floor, nearly toppling over as her legs had been crossed, falling slightly asleep, and walked towards the door, still holding her Wayfinder in her hand. It _couldn't _be her father: Eraqus had the spare key for emergencies, and unless it was a prank by her friends, she couldn't think of who else it could be.

It was probably a prank by her friends. Smiling a bit now, Aqua quickened her steps and peeked through the peephole to see who it was; but the wreath she and Terra had hung up on the door slightly blocked her view, and, with the porch light's bulb burnt out, only the pale glow of the multicoloured lights illuminated the person before her door. She frowned at the ill-placing of the Christmas wreath, and opened the door.

"Hello?"

A dark figure stood in her doorway, wearing a black Santa outfit with white fur trim, and a dark smile on their face. Aqua couldn't make out who it was, nor whether they were a boy or a girl.

"_Santa's here..._" The voice was as unfamiliar to her as snow in the summer. Whoever it was _definitely _wasn't someone she knew. The strange visitor pulled out a large sack from behind them, and opened the drawstrings as Aqua watched in confusion. Sticking their arm in, the visitor rummaged around before muttering, "_Aha,_" then pulled out a small gift, wrapped in paper a soft, light blue. They handed it to Aqua, who took it hesitantly.

"Thank you," she said, feeling a bit awkward. "Er, would you like to come in?" The person tilted their head, thinking for a moment, and nodded, entering the house as Aqua closed the door. She shivered slightly, and pulled her blue bathrobe around her a bit tighter, even though it wasn't that cold outside.

"_Open it now_," the visitor said with a smile. Aqua hesitated, again, but then decided against her better judgment and opened the small gift, pulling on the neat gold ribbon. Lifting the lid, she found nothing inside but a sweet smell, lingering in the box, rising up to meet her.

_Oh, no! This smell... it's... _Coughing, Aqua dropped the box as her eyes watered, and she fell to her knees.

"_Terra!_" she called out weakly. "_Terra!_" She had to warn him. The visitor was dangerous; within seconds, she was already incapable of escaping the situation, or turning to her favour. Her dark visitor grinned, white teeth and bright eyes gleaming as they pulled out a knife from their pocket. They stared into her blue eyes deeply, before quickly and harshly pushing her head down forward.

"_Merry Christmas, Aqua..._" There was a flash of silver, a moment of hot, wet, unbelievable pain, an echo of manic laughter, before everything went red and black.

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><p><strong>And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen: chapter one of my upcoming story, <em>Black Santa!<em>**

**Your opinions, please! All you have to do is click _Review_. **

**It would be a wonderful Christmas (or belated-holidays) present!**

**Love, Midnight**


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